Heritage, identity, and the risk of digital mimicry

As South Africans recently celebrated a day of communal braais and shared national pride, our digital lives inevitably mirrored our physical ones. We posted family photos, shared traditions, and celebrated our diverse cultures online. But in this outpouring of celebration, we risked exposing the very essence of our identity to cybercriminals who see our heritage not as a source of pride, but as a blueprint for manipulation.

Heritage is not just about our traditions and history. It’s also about an individual’s unique digital footprint that includes their personal information and cultural affiliations. While celebrating heritage is a positive act, she warns that oversharing details online can provide cybercriminals with the ammunition they need for highly targeted attacks.

The digital shadow of a shared identity

Criminals consistently flock to where public interest is highest, and the increased social media activity around Heritage Day makes it a prime hunting ground. The celebratory nature of Heritage Day makes people more trusting and less likely to scrutinise suspicious communications,” says Collard. “Cultural pride can override usual scepticism when receiving messages that appear to celebrate or acknowledge one’s heritage.

This is compounded by a tendency to share more personal information during cultural celebrations, including family photos, location data, and even ancestral origins or family names. This data helps criminals build detailed victim profiles for highly effective social engineering campaigns.

When 'ubuntu' becomes a vulnerability

Cybercriminals are adept at exploiting the cultural significance of the occasion, using traditional greetings and heritage symbols to establish a false rapport. They leverage the strong sense of ubuntu and community spirit in South African culture to lower victims’ defences.

This can manifest in several ways, from bogus charity appeals for a community project to phishing campaigns promising tickets to sold-out cultural events. Some scams are even more elaborate, exploiting deep-seated cultural beliefs. Fraudsters may claim to represent traditional healers (sangomas) or deceased ancestors, promising to ‘bless’ or double your money through a ritual to manipulate victims into handing over their life savings.

Fraudsters can also use artificial intelligence to study cultural posts to impersonate community leaders or heritage groups, exploiting the trust people have in these figures. Be especially wary of attacks that leverage personal data from your social-media accounts to create a false sense of trust.

Another risk is the deliberate use of “rage-bait” around culturally sensitive topics. Rage-bait is internet content intentionally designed to provoke anger or outrage to increase engagement. It’s best not to comment on these posts, as they can be used as a tactic in a larger social-engineering campaign to exploit cultural stereotypes or vulnerabilities for malicious purposes.

Building our cognitive defences

Protecting our digital identity is not a purely technical problem; it is a psychological one. Heritage and identity are deeply emotional topics that could bypass rational security thinking if exploited by scammers or disinformation actors. Technical solutions alone ignore how values influence decision-making and risk assessment – we need to foster digital mindfulness and teach people how to be aware of these tactics.

For individuals, this means:

• Smart sharing: Review privacy settings before posting heritage-themed content. Avoid sharing specific locations, family details, or financial information that could be exploited.
• Verification habits: Double-check heritage-related offers or invitations through official channels. Be sceptical of unsolicited messages, even if they reference your culture.
• Digital hygiene: Use a password manager to create and manage strong, unique passwords and enable multi-factor authentication on all your accounts.

For organisations: 

• Run proactive awareness campaigns: Make employees aware of the specific dangers that exist online when sharing too much personal information 
• Use culturally relevant training: Using culturally relevant examples and scenarios in security awareness training is a good idea, as it helps make the threats more tangible and memorable.

Heritage Day should be a time to strengthen our cultural bonds, not to make us vulnerable. By staying culturally connected while remaining digitally cautious, we can celebrate our heritage while securing our futures, safely.

* Collard is the SVP of Content Strategy and CISO advisor at KnowBe4 Africa.

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